Ex-military Reese lives in a zombie-infested Australian wasteland. He begins each day by tidying up his small household – watering the garden, feeding the useful (used for energy) zombies, scaring away the useless ones, replacing the depleted ones with new ones – and then he goes hunting. He traps the few survivors of the apocalypse and surrenders them to a military surgeon as material for experiments, and in return receives pills, which he takes every day. One day, Reese catches Grace, who has been bitten but not fully converted, and takes her to the lab, too. But soon her sister comes on to him and forces him to go and rescue Grace.

4k movies reviews
The zombie apocalypse is probably the most sought-after apocalypse in cinema today. Last year Zack Snyder returned, so to speak, to the sources, with his ‘Army of the Dead’ which boasts excellent visuals and effects, and perhaps nothing else, Snyder clearly failed to surpass his own ‘Dawn of the Dead’.

But ‘Wormwood: Apocalypse’ is a direct sequel to 2014’s ‘Road of the Dead’, an outstanding Australian zombie horror, with the very important prefix – thrash. It is this component that makes both of these films break out of the genre, because it is made with taste, zaniness and the undying creativity of its creators. If you like and don’t stink at movies like Operation Dead Snow 2 and the like, you’re definitely in for a treat. ‘Wormwood’ certainly doesn’t boast the insane scope of Tommy Wirkola, but it looks pretty decent in that aspect as well.

The first thing you pay attention to is the well-designed and original world of its own, where zombies are not only a deadly threat, but oddly enough, also the only source of fuel, because as we were shown back in the first part, the traditional fuel has lost its main property – flammability. And now all vehicles are equipped with zombie tanks instead of gas tanks. And the main character of the picture presented and so equipped his home with their help, having built almost no waste production.

The plot didn’t just copy the first film, but came from a different angle, making the main character a completely new one (but with an old face and direct link to the first part), a sort of soldier-mercenary, doing dirty work for the mysterious bunker inhabitants. The outwardly healthy-looking Barry and his sister Brooke (the heroes of the first film) recede into the background, but they certainly contribute to enlivening the action.

The film concedes in its overall dynamics to the original, but still boasts inventive carnage, gruesomely colorful characters (the yellow-suited doctors and the colonel are a success) and references to classics of the genre, such as Day of the Dead, The Evil Dead – hello to Ash’s hand. And the final zombie avatar is a song.

Overall, the spectacle shines with imagination, ingenuity and the blackest of humor. The entrails, dismemberment, and exploding heads don’t go anywhere, either. And most importantly, the hallmark of any quality thrash is unpredictability. It is impossible to predict how the plot will develop in the next moment, so there is no point in describing it in detail. But there are also kinks in my opinion: if in the first part Brooke’s abilities looked fresh and appropriate, here it already looks almost like a fantasy, and the final shot especially.

Everything is shot, though not on a wide footing, but with quality and expertise. The zombies themselves are just as they should be. The post-apocalyptic atmosphere is emphasized by solid camera work (Australia is perhaps the most suitable location for this genre) and the appropriate background music.

So, if you’re tired of the endless and one-sided Hollywood zombie tricks, and you want to breathe a breath of air with a fresh zombie virus, with a whiff of healthy recklessness, a mix of skilled thrash and black humor, then ‘Wormwood’ will definitely do it. I recommend starting with the first part.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (71.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10+
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles
German, English.